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Switched At Birth TV Series Wiki
Switched At Birth TV Series ﻿Switched at Birth is American television series that premiered on ABC Family on June 6, 2011 at 9:00 ET/PT.The one-hour scripted drama revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments. The series' debut was the highest rated show debut for ABC Family to date. Premise Bay Kennish (Vanessa Marano) is an artistic teenager being raised by her stay-at-home mom Kathryn (Lea Thompson) and former professional baseball player father John (D. W. Moffett), in the wealthy neighborhood Mission Hills, Kansas along with her brother Toby (Lucas Grabeel). After studying blood types in school, Bay begins to wonder why her blood type does not match her parents. The family gets genetic testing done and confirms that Bay is not biologically related to them. They discover that the hospital mistakenly switched her with another newborn, Daphne Vasquez (Katie Leclerc), a deaf teen living with her struggling single mother Regina (Constance Marie) and Puerto Rican grandmother in a working class neighborhood in Riverside, Missouri. A case of meningitis caused Daphne to lose her hearing as a child so she attends Carlton, a School for the Deaf, where she plays basketball. When the two families meet, the girls toil with their identities as Bay relates to her birth mother's artistic abilities and Daphne is drawn to John's athletic skills, as well as the family's friendly demeanor. The Kennishes learn that Regina is facing financial woes and propose the Vasquezes move into their guest home. The new living situation forces the girls, along with both families, to understand their differences and embrace their similarities. Kathryn wants to bond with Daphne as her mother and unintentionally alienates Bay, whereas Regina is fighting to keep her accepting influence on Daphne and though she sometimes bonds with Bay, she doesn't want to switch children; she wishes to keep Daphne.Oscar winning actress and deaf advocate, Marlee Matlin, plays a friend of Regina and the mother of Emmett (Sean Berdy), the best friend of Daphne. Both Daphne and Emmett attend the same school for the Deaf. Cast And Characters *Katie Leclerc as Daphne Paloma Vasquez: The biological daughter of John & Kathryn Kennish. She is the legal daughter of Regina Vasquez. She was born on Oct. 22, 1995. She is deaf. *Vanessa Marano as Bay Madeleine Kennish: The biological daughter of Angelo Sorrento & Regina Vasquez. She is the legal daughter of John and Kathryn Kennish. She was also born on Oct. 22, 1995. *Constance Marie as Regina Vasquez: Daphne's mother and Bay's biological mother. *D. W. Moffett as John Kennish: Bay's father and Daphne and Toby's biological father. *Lea Thompson as Kathryn Kennish: Bay's mother and Daphne and Toby's biological mother. *Lucas Grabeel as Toby Kennish: John and Kathryn's son, Bay's brother, and Daphne's biological brother. He develops a gambling problem and comes to term with dealing and accepting it. *Sean Berdy as Emmett Bledsoe: Daphne's best friend who is also deaf. He becomes a drummer in Wilke and Toby's band after their former drummer gets grounded in episode 4. He has stated that he believes that deaf people and hearing people can not have a relationship together believing it to be different to work, but when he takes a liking to Bay, he realizes he was wrong (proving people can change and preconceived notions can be broken down) and begins to grow closer to Bay and spend more and more time with her. This, in result, causes tension between Daphne and him. Recurring Cast *Marlee Matlin as Melody: A deaf guidance counselor and Emmett's mother, and Regina's best friend. *Tammy Townsend as Denise: One of Kathryn's friends who sometimes spreads rumors about her. *Austin Butler as Wilke: A rich friend of Toby's, who happens to be in a band with him. To get his grades up he joins The cooking class and his partner turns out to be Daphne. He defends her when Clover and her friends mock her and they unexpectedly become friends right away. He saves her, when she almost gets hit by a car. *Blair Redford as Ty: Daphne's close friend, and Bay's love interest and short lived boyfriend before he leaves for the military in episode four. *Ivonne Coll as Adriana; Regina's mother, Daphne's grandmother and Bay's biological grandmother who lives with Regina and Daphne in the Kennish guest house. *Jason Brooks as Bruce: Denise's ex-husband. Audio Editing Scenes featuring only deaf charaters having a conversation (mainly Daphane and Emmett) have their audio edited to remove all background noise except ambient noise. This is done so the viewer can one, only focus on the emotions and the physicalness of sign language, and two, provide the viewer a perspective of deafness. This editing goes almost unknown to the audience. Settings The show is set in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, referred to collectively on the show as simply "Kansas City," though they are actually two separate and distinct municipalities. Locations mentioned in the show include Mission Hills, KS, a suburb of Kansas City, MO where the Kennish family lives, Riverside, MO, where the Vasquez family lived before moving to the Kennishes' guest house, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Loose Park, both in Kansas City, MO. In addition, establishing shots used in several episodes feature video of downtown Kansas City, MO, including a shot of Liberty Memorial in the pilot episode. Numerous references throughout the series are made to the fact that John Kennish played for the Kansas City Royals baseball team. There is no history of anyone with that name playing for the Royals. Vehicles driven by members of the Kennish family correctly bear a single Kansas license plate on the rear of the vehicle, but they appear to be the 2010 "America's Heartland" base used only for personalized license plates instead of the 2008 "Ad Aspera/State Seal" base used for standard issue license plates. In Season 1, Episode 5 a close up of John Kennish's license plate is clearly visible, showing a Kansas plate, but the county sticker in the upper left corner says "SN", which stands for Shawnee county, Kansas, the county in which the state capitol of Topeka is located, rather than "JO" for Johnson County, Kansas where Mission Hills is located. Promotion One week before the premiere, ABC Family launched the online game, "Switched at Birth: Hunt for the Code." Bay, a graffiti artist, left her signature stencil image on 10 different websites and users searched for the picture and accompanying code to redeem sneak peeks and enter to win $4,000. Each weekday, ABCFamily.com posted two clues hinting at a site featuring the image and instructed users to scan the code with a Microsoft Tag Reader for exclusive content. Additionally, each code had two letters for fans to collect and enter to win upon completion of the ten digit code. Reception The show had the highest-rated premiere ever on the ABC Family network with total viewers of 3.3 million made up of adults 18-34 1 million, women 18-34 over 750,000, adults 18-49 1.7 million and women 18-49 1.7 million. Including a repeat later the same evening, the premiere was seen by an estimated total of 4.9 million viewers on its first broadcast day. Awards Awards Category:Browse